Taco Bell throws a hat into the Breakfast arena

I've always joked that teenagers are at their most eloquent in the moments right before the “ask”. My son is not any different in that respect. Expressing what they want comes naturally, so I don’t begrudge his lobbying for what his heart desires. However, I was somewhat surprised about his latest query.

“No way, are you kidding me? I’m not driving across town to go to a Taco Bell.”

I pivoted on the heel of my foot to leave the room, quickly shooting down the idea down of expending the time, gas and energy that it would take to get there.

Later that week, I saw an article about the Breakfast Wars heating up and going viral between the Fast Food entities and my interest was piqued.

The fast food industry is a $200 million dollar cash cow (no pun intended) and the arena of breakfast constitutes $50 million dollars of it. Why wouldn't Taco Bell look into the prospect getting a piece of the action? In response McDonalds started offering free coffee in its latest salvo at Taco Bell’s encroachment on its turf, as breakfast constitutes 20% of its U.S sales.

This is fast food war and it will get ugly before it gets pretty.

And then it happened. I saw the commercial and it appealed to my insidious alter-ego Fatdrey Fatterson, who harbors a love for Taco’s despite being a pescatarian.

Enlisting the help of people named Ronald McDonald to extol the efficacy and tastiness of Taco Bell’s breakfast offering was a stroke of genius. I recoiled as I felt the marketing campaign slowly wearing away at my logic centers.

“Maybe I could have them make me one without the sausage” I thought to myself, as I did my best to ignore my stomach gurgling in agreement.

The new breakfast menu line up holds a lot of promise to drive traffic into its stores, but the other side of the coin for me are the potential health considerations, the jaw dropping amounts of sodium is a game changer.

There is a delicate balance to eating healthy, fielding occasional dalliances into the waters of fast food and constantly being subject to successful marketing campaigns which appeal to our proclivity for cheap, quick eats.

I think I may sit this one out despite the witty commercials, lobbying efforts of my son and my alter-ego, because Fatdrey has never had my best interest at heart. Ultimately, I know I can placate him with something more appealing to our heart and waistline.

Share this article

Shundrey is a native Chicagoan, living in Baltimore. He has a B.A. in Journalism and a M.B.A .with a specialization in Marketing; he has held a host of positions during his 13 years working in the telecom industry. It is Shundrey's contention that the best use of the exploding scepter of social media is to use it to complement and enhance our respective lives, not replace them. You can reach Shundrey at shunwrites@hotmail.com.